The Game of Love
by celestial kitten16
Summary: She would have made Joffrey a good queen and a better wife if he'd had the sense to love her- Tyrion Lannister. What if Joffrey, was able to overcome the way he was raised and let himself love Sansa Stark. This is the story of a boy and girl, falling in love as a kingdom falls around them. Enemy's are rising to fight them and love is not enough to survive the Game of Thrones.
1. Chapter 1

Sansa was in the Glass Gardens with Rickon, tending to the blue winter roses that she and her deceased Aunt Lyanna shared a common love for. Sansa did not take after her Aunt Lyanna and her father in the traditional Stark appearance of black hair and gray eyes. No, Sansa took after her mother, inheriting the features of a Tully. With eye's blue as the sea's, and hair red as fire. She was blessed with high cheekbones and a tall stature for only being fourteen.

It was there in the Glass Gardens that a handmaiden ran in, finding Rickon tucking a blue winter rose behind his eldest sisters ear.

"My Lady, the king has arrived and your father and mother wish for you and the rest of your siblings to join them in greeting them upon their arrival. You must hurry now!" Turning from her brother, Sansa looked to the handmaiden and smiled, thanking her for coming to get them.

In a moment of inspiration, Sansa wuickly prepared two bouquets of red, peach, yellow roses, yellow calla lilies, eucalyptus seed. When she was finished she handed one to Rickon to carry for her while she helped him with his cloak

"Come, Rickon, put on your cloak," Sansa told him, beckoning him to come to her so that she may help him.

"Sansa, why do you look so sad?" Rickon asked his eldest sister, as she helped tie his cloak around his shoulders, attempting not to crush the flowers he was charged with.

"I'm not sad at all, today I shall greet my future, I'm just a little shaken that it's come so soon." Sansa explained, thinking that today all her choices shall be robbed from her and the reigns of her life handed to her husband to be, Prince Joffrey Baratheon, the eldest son of King Robert Baratheon.

"And what of you Rickon, you must be excited to meet the young Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella? I hear she is just as beautiful as her mother." Sansa teases Rickon, watching as he sticks his tongue out in disgust at the thought of pretty girl other than his sister or mother. The mere thought of marriage had his poor little stomach in knots.

"Come now, we must go or mother and father will scold us if we don't make in time to welcome the royal family." saying that the two rushed off to the castle gates.

"There you two are! Have you seen Arya?" Lady Catelyn cries as she helps line them up, making sure Sansa is standing just a bit more upfront then the others, so beside Lord Stark she would be the second to be seen. After all this would be the first introduction to her future husband and his family.  
"No, mother, we haven't seen Arya," Sansa tells her as Catelyn pulls her daughters fiery hair over her shoulders, fixing her cloak and smoothing out the wrinkles of her dress.

"Mother, please stop, your making me terribly nervous." Sansa says, fidgeting under her mothers hands as she rubs some dirt off from her cheek that she had gotten while tending to the flowers in the garden.

"Oh, your hands are filthy!" Catelyn cries, holding up her daughters hands and try's to pick the dirt out from underneath her daughters nails.

"Catelyn, leave the girl be," Eddard Stark laughs, just in time for Arya to come running up to distract his wife from his eldest daughter to their youngest daughter.

"Arya!" Sansa's give a sigh of relief, and jumps when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, sister." Robb says in her ear, and she cant help but lean back on him.

"Oh, Robb, what if he doesn't like me?...What if_ I_ don't like him?" she asks her brother, obviously distressed.  
"There is not a man in this world who would not_ like_ you my fair sister, much to my disdain. On the matter if you will like him, I hope you do for the sake of your own happiness, and if you do not, we will talk to father together and find away to break the engagement" Robb promised her. With a smile Sansa lifted her hand and touched her brothers that rested on her shoulder.

"What would I do without you, brother?" Sansa asked, turning her head and bringing his hand to her lips to kiss his knuckles affectionately.

"You will find out perhaps very soon, when you marry at last." Sansa did not want to be reminded any more that she must wed, to either the prince or any other man if her current engaged did not come to fruition.  
"Let us talk no more of me marrying." she tells him as the sounds of hooves of horses become louder as they approach.

"You would never marry, if I could help it." he whispers lastly in to his ear before straitening as their visitors poured through the castle gates in a river of gold, silver, and polished steel. At least three hundred strong and a pride of banner man and knights, of sworn swords and freeriders. Over their heads waved a dozen banners that whipped back and forth in the Northern wind that Sansa was so accustomed to, emblazoned with the crowned stag of Baratheon.

Sansa knew only a few of them men from descriptions stories she had heard. There was no mistaking Ser Jaime Lannister with his hair as bright as melted gold, and Sandor Clegane with his terrible burned half burned face. Beside him rode a tall boy that Sansa immediately knew from her fathers constant talk of him was the crown prince, he who was too be her husband. Behind road his stunted Imp of an uncle, Tyrion Lannister, his intelligence and wit was said to be as sharp as a blade.

He spotted her right away, with a blue rose in her flaming hair and eyes that matched the very color of the flower tucked behind her ear. She was the most beautiful creature that Joffrey had ever seen. Even more so than his lady mother, something he once believed inconceivable until now. And he vows that he will make this girl, no this woman, his own. That he will have her in all and any way he can. For there were many things in his life that he has wanted, but none as much as her. For she was the sun in the sky, warming his skin and giving life to all around her. No one could compare to her.

As the party stops and his father dismounts his horse, he is quick to follow him with the intention of meeting the Starks by his fathers side. He stands tall and proud, his shoulders back and chin up as he strolls forward behind the king.

When they reached the Starks, Joffrey's father pulled Lord Stark into a bone-crunching embrace. "_Ned! _Ah, but it is good to see that frozen face of yours." the king looked him over top to bottome and laughed. "You've gotten fat."

"So have you, my friend." Ned said, looking the king top to bottom just as he had done to him with a laugh that he shared with the King.

Fifteen years had past since they had ridden forth to win a throne, the Lords of Storm's End had been clean-shaved, clear-eyed, and muscled like a maidens fantasy then. Six and a half feet tall, her towered over lesser men, and when he donned his armor and the great antlered helmet of his House, he became a veritable giant. He's had a giants strenght too, his weapon of choice a spiked iron warhammer that Ned could scarcely lift. In those days, the smell of leather and blood had clung to him like a perfume.

Now it was perfume that clung to him like perfume, and her had a girth to match his height. Ned had last seen the king nine years before during Balon Greyjoy's rebellion, when the stag and direwolf had joined to end the pretensions of the self-proclaimed king of the Iron islands. Since the night they had stood side by side in Greyjoy's fallen stronghold, where Robert had accepted the rebel lords surrender and Ned had taken his son Theon as hostage and ward, the king had gained at least eight stone.

"Cat!" King Robert greeted his old friends lady wife with a quick embrace.

"Your Grace." Catelyn greeted as the King hugged her before ruffling young Rickon's hair who stood at his mothers side before moving back to Ned.

"Nine years...Why haven't I seen you? Where the hell have you been?" King Robert asked his old friend.

"Guarding the North for you, your Grace. Winterfell is yours" Ned answered, and behind the King Sansa watched as three hand maidens stepped from the carriage and lined together as the youngest Prince and Princess stepped out of the carriage as well, standing on the opposite side of the hand maidens as their mother followed her children's exit of the carriage. Behind Sansa she had Theon waiting with the flowers as she waitied for the right time to give them to the queen.

"What have we here? You must be Robb" The king said, taking the eldest Stark sons hand in a firm shake.  
"And you must be Sansa." Suddenly Sansa was being pulled into the kings arms in a jovial embrace that took Sansa by surprise. Pulling away, King Robert looked her up and down with an approving smile. "Your more beautiful then what you father wrote of, I'm afraid his pretty words couldn't do you justice my girl. And at only four and ten, you'll grow even more beautiful with time I am sure, like a good wine."

"I'm afraid not even your pretty words can do her justice, father. I don't believe I have ever laid eyes on a woman as lovely as she in all the lands other then mother." Prince Joffrey, spoke. Finally the opportunity he had waited for presented itself.  
"Your Grace and Highness, flatter me." Sansa said, taking an intake of breath as Joffrey bowed himself at the waist and took her hand from her side to kiss her fingers and though she felt nothing at all as such a romantic gesture, Sansa finally smiled at the prince while the King continued to meet the last two of her siblings.

"That's Jaime Lannister, the queens twin brother," Arya spoke up beside Sansa who had taken her hand back from the Prince.

"Yes, Arya, I can see that, I know who he is." Sansa spoke with soft control to her sister.  
The Queen at last approached them, going to Sansa's father and holding out her hand for him to greet her and kiss her fingers. "Theon, the flowers?" Sansa asked as her father and mother greeted the queen with bows. Theon obediently handed over the largest of the bouquets to his lady.

"My Queen, these are for you. I have grown them myself." Sansa smiled brilliantly, holding the flowers for the queen who smiled politely and took them. "I hope they are to your liking."

"How sweet of you." Smiled Cersei, and Sansa noticed a slight condescending tone behind the Queens complimenting words. "Myrcella, Darling, come over here"

"Yes, Mother?" asked Myrcella as she came to her mothers side obediently. The young girl who looked to be around Arya's age was a beautiful blond image of what Sansa imagined the Queen to have looked like when she was younger. It seemed all of the Baratheon children had taken their looks from their mother's side, with their golden hair and green eyes.

"Lady Sansa, has prepared a gift for you" Cercsei told her daughter as Theon handed the smallest bouquet to Sansa, who bowed to the princess and held out the flowers to the young girl who's smile lit up at the color arrangement.

"Oh, their lovely!" Myrcella commented, smelling the sweet fragrance before running over to her younger brother to show him what she had gotten.

"And who is this strapping young man?" King Robert asked, taking notice of Theon. Trying to remember where he had seen the boy before.  
"Theon Greyjoy, your Grace." Theon introduced himself with a bow.  
"Theon is Sansa's sworn shield and sword, your Grace" Ned told the King who continued to eye the young man standing behind Sansa tall and faithfully.

"The Greyjoy boy you took hostager? Her sworn shield is he?" The King repeated with interest as he eyes the eldest Stark girl and Theon together. He noticed his sons glaring gaze on the older boy. It seemed his son was already fixated with his bride to be.

"Yes your, Grace. Theon has been my loyal companion and guard since I was five years old." Sansa told him, always giving a respectful bow of her head when she spoke to the King. The King only gave a hum before turning back to Ned.

"Take me to your crypt, I want to pay my respects" King Robert told Ned.

"We've been riding for a month, my love...surely the dead can wait." Cersei spoke up, looking to her husband. The King glanced at his wife before turning back to his friend and walking off, ignoring his wife's request that he wait. After a second Ned followed the King, leaving Cersei where she stood.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

Sansa watched with a smile at Princess Myrcella took some of the flowers from her bouquet and tucked them into her younger brothers hair. They were such beautiful children. Sansa wondered briefly if her and Joffrey's children would be just as golden and green eyed, or if they might take after her with fire for hair, and eyes of blue ice. Or maybe they would be the perfect combination of the both of them. With red hair and green eyes, or perhaps with hair of gold and blue eyes.

All the while, Joffrey could still not take his eyes off of Sansa's face. The way her smiled made her eyes shine, or how the sun made her hair glow...she was simply breathtaking. And when she finally turns that smile onto him, Joffrey feels as if the air from his lungs had been stolen.

"I've waited a long time for our meeting, my Prince." Sansa continued to smile—more out of courtesy then joy.  
"As have I, my Lady. I had only heard of your beauty before, but seeing you for myself I find that no words could ever truly capture the magnitude of your beauty." he says, once more taking her hand and kissing her knuckles, his lips lingering as he took in the softness of her skin against his.

"Thank you, your flattering words are too much for my heart. Just being in your presence fills me with unspeakable joy." she tells him, her smile sweet as ever before.  
Sansa wouldn't lie and say she didn't find the Prince handsome, he was very handsome. One day he might even be on par with his Uncle Jaime. In fact, it was almost off how much the two seemed to look alike. Thinking it as nothing, Sansa continued to indulge the prince with her smiles.

"I expected no less of course." he said, puffing out his chest and tipping up his chin to look down on her.

"And you, My Prince, are your as pleased with our meeting as much as I?" Sansa asked. She desperately wanted to find something in the prince to love, and hoped to be loved in return as well. She wanted to be happy.

"I am...I am very pleased." he said, with a smile that made my heart feel light withing my chest until his eyes began to roam my body up and down in a very un-gallant way that I knew my father would not approve of. And it should bother her more than it should, but it was not the first time a man had looked at her with such eyes. Besides, when they were wed, she was his, and he had rights to take her and look at her anyway he so choose. She didn't like it, but it was the way of marriage she had been taught by her septa. But perhaps – she hoped – that Joffrey would be kind and gentle.

"I am relieved to hear that. I feared that you would not like me." she admits with an honest blush, her hands overlapping over the skirts of her dress, as she looked at him from under long fiery lashes.

Joffrey's heart stuttered in his chest.

"Fear not, My Lady, for I don't believe there will ever be a moment where I can say I do not like you." he smiled, reassuring her and hopefully battling off any fears she had. "I only hope you'll be able to say the same."

"Of course, my Lord, I feel the same." she tells him with another one of her pretty smiles.

Lady Catelyn watches her eldest daughter and the prince with hope in her eyes. Hope that her daughter can find the same love and loyalty with her husband as she has with Ned, for all she has ever had in mind in her children's happiness. And for Sansa, who she very close to, she wanted her to only ever be happy. But the world could be cruel, and it would be a great relief to Cat if she knew that her eldest daughter had a reliable and strong husband to walk through life by her side.

"Sansa, if Prince Joffrey is not too tired from his journey perhaps you could guide him around Winterfull. Under supervision of course." Catelyn was anything if not proper.

"I would love nothing more," Joffrey agreed eagerly, being so bold as to take Sansa's hand, entwining their fingers before he began to pull her away from her family, urging her to show him _all _of Winterfell.

"Joffrey!" the Queen called out to her son, going to follow, but once more her twin stopped her, holding her by the shoulders. "Let the boy go. Is it not a good chance for him to get to know his bride better?" he asked her with a smirk.

"Theon, go with them and make sure doesn't do anything to," she searched for the appropraite word. "brazen with my daughter." Cat ordered. Theon stepped forward, bowed to his Lady and then began to trail after Sansa and Joffrey with a rather annoyed expression though it didn't appear to be directed at Sansa, but the Prince.

Sansa, not wanting the Prince to think she was rejecting him, could not find it in her to remove her hand from his as they walked through Winterfell. As they walked the people greeted her with kindness and courtesy, bowing to both the Prince and the young lady of Winterfell. It was obvious she was well loved by her people. Something to respect.

Joffrey watched as Sansa mingled with the common folk, greeting each individual person by name as she walked pass, bowing her head to each person despite the circumstance of their birth. She was gracious and polite, but most importantly she walked with her head high with all the prowess and presence of a queen. And one day, after they married, and his father had passed, queen Joffrey would make her.

Children ran about joyfully, laughing and giggling as they played. Sansa stopped to watch them, not caring about the dirt and mud that splashed on her skirts as the children ran in front of them. "Sometimes it seems that children are the only pure and innocent things in this world anymore. If only I could protect all of them." she says more to herself than to the Prince, her smile gone and her eyes sad. "too forever me a child, naive and filled with hope, not knowing of the terrible truths that surround them." realizing how much of a dark turn she was taking, she turned to the prince with a bright smile and apologized.

"I'm terribly sorry, I have no idea what came over me. I'm usually much more cheerful than this," she explained.  
Joffrey had been so surprised by her change in mood that he couldn't seem to be able to catch up enough to be upset with her. He just continued to stare at her, shocked and confused. He didnt wuite understand what she had been saying, in fact he had barely been paying attention until she started to apologize and smiled at him.

"We all have our moments of dark clarity, my mother torments me with the facts of reality. But the fact is that reality and the truth is either terrible or boring, so I tend to ignore her." he tells her with a smirk, striding ahead and pulling her along. "Now, take me to your favorite places."

Smiling, Sansa suddenly stopped causing the prince to be jerked back. "Then we are going in the wrong direction, my Lord." there was just something in her eyes and smile that he couldn't resist.

"Show me." and so she did.  
Taking his hand in hers she smiled and pulled him, taking on a run, laughing as Theon was forced to chase after her and Joffrey as she made her way towards the God's Wood.


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm sorry that the chapters are so short, but I'm working on numerous stories and my job so I've been busy and jumping from story to story, chapter to chapter._

_But as short as they are I hope you still enjoy them. _

* * *

Joffrey felt a glee he hadn't in a long while as he ran with Sansa, and when he looked to her her cheeks were flushed and stretched with a smile as she laughed and giggled. And as they entered the woods she reminded him of a nymph, a magical and ethereal creature man was never meant to lay his hands upon. She continued to lead him until they stopped at a heart tree with a clear pool of water in front of it. Joffrey had never stepped into the Godswood of Kings Landing to pray, and was grateful now that he stood before the hideous tree with it's carved face and tears of crimson.

"My father often comes here to pray to the old gods. When I was a child he used to take me with him and teach me the prayers, and tell me stories. But most of all I loved to the play in the water of the pool." she tells him as she lets go of his hand and sits at the edge of the water, her skirts splayed out around her while her cloak drapes down her back.

"Sit with me?" she asks of him, innocent hope in her eyes as she holds up her hand to him. He takes it without hesitation, sitting close enough to her that their shoulders touch as they gaze at their reflections side by side in the water.

Keeping his distance Theon simply watched them. Looking over his shoulder when he heard the crack of twigs and crunch of leaves to see the Princes sworn sword and shield Sandor Clegane. Neither said anything to each other and merely watched the Princess of Winterfell and Prince of all Westeros.

"My father told me when that when I married, it would be here, with the gods of the forest as witness to bless my union. I dreamed of it so many times" _but those dreams were of a man I loved, and who loved me, someone of my choosing. _She thought bitterly as she continued to force a smile as she spoke.

"I would dream of my wedding every night, planning every detail with my mother. The food we would eat, the design and colors of my gown, how I would wear my hair and how happy I would be." she continued, her smile becoming more natural as she dipped her fingers in the water, remembering the days in the great keep when she would sit with her septa and mother and speak of her wedding, of the days when she would play out her wedding with her siblings and Theon, most of them going along with it against their will.

"You will be happy. I will do all in my power to give you the wedding you so dream of. Ask me for anything and I will ensure that you have it." he promised her.

"Will you love me?" she asked him softly, blushing prettily, she did everything prettily he thought.

"Is that what you want? Out of everything I could give you, all you want is for me to love you?" he asked, confused and taken back by her wish.

She nodded.

"Then all my love is yours from this day forth. I shall love you, and only ever you until you tire of my affections. And even then, I may not be able to stop loving you." he swore gallantly, taking her hand and laying her palm on his chest above his heart.

"And will you love me, my Lady?" he asked her.

"If that is what you wish," she answered.

"It is. It is all I wish for, it is what will please me more than anything, for you to love me as I vow to love you." he said, leaning his face close to hers and Sansa believed for a moment he might kiss her.

Theon gripped the hilt of his sword and took a step forward.

"My Lady, it would be best to return now." Theon interrupted. "After all, there is much more of Winterfell for his highness to see." he told her.

"Of course, you must see everything My Lord, I was being selfish when bringing you here and taking up so much time" Sansa apologized, and Joffrey helped her to her feet.

"Thank you," she smiled, patting down her skirts before she took the princes offered arm and escorted him out of the Godswood.

* * *

_Also dont jump to the conclusion that Sansa and Joffrey are suddenly in love. They are not. Right now their promise is for show and to try and earn the others favor. Sansa still hates the position she is in but she does hope that with time she can still come to love Joffrey. Their pretty much putting on a play, though I admit that Joffrey is slightly more sincere at the moment then Sansa._

_Which reminds me.  
Joffrey is still a little shit but his change is beginning thanks to his sudden feelings for Sansa._


	4. Chapter 4

_Wow, It's been a really long time has it not? I'm always amazed when I get the email notifications letting me know I have new followers and favorites. It's a great feeling but I feel like total crap when I know I haven't updated in a long time. I apologize for that, but I have been very busy with my job and by the time I get home I'm exhausted and barely have the energy or focus to write anything. I use my weekends to try and get a lot done, but I have so many stories that I'm trying to keep updated that I don't have time to get everyone of them._

_I cant make promises that I will update regularly, but I do plane to continue with this story. _

_For now, I hope you enjoy this chapter as short as it may be._

* * *

Sansa continued to escort Joffrey around Winterfell, The Hound and Theon following behind them, not sharing a word and simply watching their charges.

Sansa glanced at the prince and wondered if he would truly love her in their marriage, that they would share a union of peace, friendship and mutual respect for the other as she has seen in her parents marriage throughout the years.

But as she took another look and saw the disgust there was on his face as he looked around at the northerners, her people, she started to question if she could love him. She loved her people, almost as much as she loved her own kin. Her people were not only her subjects, they were under her care and protection, they were her family and friends. Her brothers, her sisters, her fathers and mothers. All of Winterfell had part in her upraising.

"If I may ask, what is your opinion of Winterfell now that I have shown you most of it?" Sansa asks, hope in her eyes as she smiles up at Joffrey, who was only just taller than her.

"It is cold and wet, nothing at all like the Capitol." he told her, looking straight ahead. "Yet at the same time, there seems to be a warmth amongst the people that I have never witnessed in the Red Keep."

He said, watching as a man helped an elderly woman pick up some fruit that had fallen from the wooden stall of her shop. In Kings Landing one would have simply walked past, even stepped on the fruit while scavengers tried to steal away as many of the dirty fruit as possible.

"I think it is the cold, that brings us all together. When it is cold, people are naturally drawn to one another in the hope of seeking warmth." as if to give an example, she daringly hugged Joffrey's arm closer to her, her cheeks staining pink as she averted her eyes, knowing exactly how her action may be perceived.

"It would be my pleasure to keep you warm, My Lady." he said, placing a hand over the when she had on his arm, his eyes not meeting hers but instead focusing on all that was below her face. Sansa is proud when she doesn't feel her face heat with an embarrassed blush. She wished he would look her in the eyes more, like her father looked her mother in the eyes. After awhile his eyes roamed back up her body, staying on her face for a long moment.

"Your hair is like fire amongst the ice around us, it's beautiful. I feel as if I touch it, it may burn me as though it was actual flame." her smirked, seemingly amused with himself as he made this funny face.

"I assure you, My Lord, that it will do know such thing." she giggled, and as she did so the princes face seem to light with a glow, his cheeks rosy and his smile bright, while as his green eyes sparkled like jewels. He looked his age, young but handsome. He even looked kind.

"Tell me more about what you imagined our wedding to be like." he was telling her, not asking her and the thought that he could be kind vanished from Sansa's mind, leaving her disappointed.

"My dress, would be of the finest silk and the colors of my house; silver and white. My mother would prepare my hair. Their would be flowers everywhere, white ones and blue ones, and flowers even in my hair." she says, getting caught in the excitement of the wedding she had once dreamed of. "I would wed in the early afternoon, when the sun is bright and shines through the leaves of the tree's of the Godswood, setting them alight and the water of the pond would glisten and sparkle, and in it would be our reflections standing side by side. It would be so romantic, so beautiful." she breathes.

"And what of the reception?" there was a clear interest in his voice, even an eagerness to hear more.

"It would be held in the Great Keep of course, we would sit at a table at the very for front of everyone, the center of attention. They would drink in celebration, laughing and cheering with joy and there would be dancing, wonderful dancing." she sighs dreamily towards the end.

"Would we dance?" says Joffrey.

"But of course. The husband and wife always have the first and last dance." she smiled, and in her eyes Joffrey could see her dreams, her wishes, and he suddenly has the desire to protect them all. To make all she wishes for and more a reality. She is to be his wife, his queen and that mere positions grants her the right to have anything she wants; he thinks, and he will grant her it all, if only to see her beautiful smile.

"Do you enjoy dancing, My Lady?" he has a sudden desire to know more of her, to gain a sense of her beyond the fantasy of their wedding, but of her as a person.

"Very much so. I find that when words fail us, that dancing can speak for us in a language all it's own." she looks ahead then, turning her blue eyes on the Great Keep ahead. "I also find that dancing can be very liberating on certain occasions and depending on the dance itself. My father often danced with me when I was a child. And on occasion when he is very cheerful mood, he will still dance with me, even letting me stand on his toes as I did when I was a girl."

He notices that she speaks of Lord Stark with an unmistakable fondness. Something that Joffrey can not relate too, for he and his father had never had a close relationship during his childhood or even now, only ever speaking to him at the rare meals he shared with him, his mother and siblings, speaking only to Joffrey about what he had heard of Sansa in hopes of strengthening Joffrey's willingness and agreement on the engagement that had been decided since he was ten years old.

"Are you close to Lord Stark?" he asks.

Sansa, surprised by the Princes sudden interest at first give a delighted smile, thinking that interest to be a positive sign and growth in their only just budding relationship.

"I've very much believe that our relationship is a close and loving one. As his eldest daughter many things have been expected of me since early age" she told him. "My father has always been very encouraging, but as most men has always been at a loss on exactly how to raise a lady," she giggles then.

"But though daft as to the teaching of a lady, my father has done well to raise me to be a _Stark. _Teaching me our house words, our values, and much more. It always surprises me though when others say that my father is a cold man, but when he is with me he is nothing other than warm and loving. He is a good man, one who I admire greatly." Joffrey wishes he could say the same about his own father, but knows he can not. He knows the truth about the King, that he is a drunk who humiliates his mother daily by his none to secret affairs, of his the mothers of his fathers bastard children. He see's his father unworthy as king, as disgrace of a husband and a ruthless and cruel father to his children. But Joffrey has his mother, and for her he is grateful for her love and protection.

"I am proud to be called my fathers daughter. I like to believe that he and my mother raised me well to be a strong and good Lady of both Houses Stark and Tully." and then she blushes, tucking her chin down to stair at the dirty hem of her gown. "I only hope that I am Lady _Baratheon, _I can do your houses proud as well, My Lord."

Stopping, he took her chin between his fingers, and forced her to meet his eye. "I cant imagine you being able to do anything else but make others fall in love with you. You will be the envy of every woman in Westero's, you will be my wife, Lady Baratheon. And I am sure you will be more than capable of fulfilling the duties that come with such a high position."

"I don't want to disappoint anyone." she told him, showing him a surprising amount of vulnerability.

"You wont." he promised her.

Sansa wanted nothing more than to believe him. But she still barely knew him, couldn't yet trust him, for trust was something that had to be earned through time and actions.

"Your faith in me gives me courage, My Lord, and will do all in my power to make your proud to call me your wife one day." she smiled.

Their engagement came with so much pressure from both sides, and Sansa was only just beginning to feel it's true weight on her shoulders.


End file.
